Florian inquired:
> The short intro on methodology states that UIE "gave these shoppers
> money to spend on their purchases". Well, if people were indeed
> given money to pay for all their purchases, it would be fair to
> argue that they would not be that bothered about price. And if money
> were not a significant factor, then the claim that price does not
> influence impulse purchases would be seriously undermined...
>
> Any comments on that?
You are correct that price might not be important because of our
methodology.
However, here's what we observed:
+ First, we're talking about impulse purchases here. Everyone had
a list of things they needed when the started their shopping
expedition. (It was part of our screening procedure to have them
prepare a list.) We're not talking about anything they bought
that was on their list. We're talking about the stuff they
bought that they didn't intend to buy, often with the money left
over from their initial purchases.
+ Second, they *were* very price-conscious with the items on their
list. Usually because they realized they could get "more stuff"
if they saved money, but often because that was their nature.
Our experience is that most people will try to conserve money
when all other things are equal.
+ Third, they were on a budget which was often much larger than
than the average purchase on the site. (For example, at CD
sites where products average about $15.00, we might give people
$50.00.) So, often after people purchased their items from their
list, they had a fairly large amount remaining to spend.
+ Fourth, the common wisdom is that people are "attracted to
pricing." That means that the words "SALE" or "OUTLET" or other
affordances to a price difference should be very strong,
particularly when reacting on impulse. This wasn't the case at
all. Impulse purchases were almost always on things the user had
come across in their travels, when price wasn't mentioned
anywhere on the path.
+ Fifth, when people weren't happy with a particular product
(often because the description on the site was inadequate, not
because it didn't actually meet their needs -- they just
couldn't tell if it did), they often cited price as one of the
reasons for dismissal. So, price did (sometimes) play a role in
rejected purchases -- though rarely when impulse buying.
Using these observations, we feel that our methodology didn't have a
significant effect on people's impulse purchases.
Jared
- o - o - o -
Jared M. Spool
User Interface Engineering
242 Neck Road
Bradford, MA 01835 USA
(978) 374-8300 fax: (978) 374-9175
[log in to unmask]http://www.uie.com
Web Sites That Work: Designing With Your Eyes Open
March 21 & 22 (Seattle, WA) -- http://www.uie.com
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